1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a seat control device for controlling the horizontal position of a seat arranged in the interior of a vehicle.
2. Related Art
Most seats arranged in a vehicle such as an automobile have a seat control device enabling a seat position to be moved horizontally back and forth, which the seat control device may be a manual type in which the seat is moved by having a passenger operate an operation unit (lever etc.) arranged at the lower part of the seat, or the like, or may be an electrically operated type in which the seat is moved by having the passenger operate an input unit (switch etc.) arranged at the side of the seat, or the like.
In particular, in the electrically operated seat control device, the seat is moved based on an output of the input unit if the operation amount of the input unit is small, and the seat is automatically moved to the most front or the most back position if the operation amount of the input unit is large.
In recent years, the seat control device is arranged not only at a driver's seat and a front passenger's seat, which is located next to the driver's seat, but also at each back seat in a back row, and thus the passenger himself/herself can set an optimum seat position at each seat. In place of the manual seat control device, which has been the mainstream in the related art, the electrically operated seat control device is beginning to be widely used so that the seat position can be more easily set.
Japanese Examined Patent Publication No. 7-61782 describes an orientation control device for detecting the presence of seating on a seat behind a front row seat when a drive instruction for moving the front row seat backward is made, detecting whether or not the front row seat exceeds a backward limit position stored in advance if seating is detected, and moving the front row seat backward only when the backward limit position is not exceeded.
Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2007-131138 describes a foreign material trapping detection device for detecting trapping of a foreign material by measuring the fluctuation in seat driving force for every predetermined movement distance, and comparing the fluctuation amount with a threshold value, which is a fluctuation range value defined by a predetermined calculation.